Rowdy, I apologize for not wiping the lubricant off totally , just didnt realize that it'd show in the photograph....and I am a hideous photographer anyways. But I've shot the 44special cylinder and man o' man,,does she shoot,,,,,directly to poa but about 1' high at 15 yds..just about how I like them.

Since I have never owned a 44WCF,,,I have dies and brass on order as we speak and will let you know how the 44WFC cylinder does,,but I expect it preform very well too.

Lightnings have a reputation for being finicky about cartridge feeding. I think the other part of it is that the new ones have been built in 45LC and 357 primarily. Those are really finicky to get to feed properly, being a straight walled case. The Lightning action is very short and compact, making the geometry tight to get the cartridge to tip over off the carrier and into the chamber properly. Mine is a 44-40 and even with that I had to have some expert tuning done on the rifle. I spoke to Gary Granger of USFA when I bought mine, and he told me he would never buy a Lightning chambered for a straight walled case, no matter who built it.

I've read that the Pedersoli version has some internal modifications that make them run much better out of the box, but haven't had the chance to try one. However, I'm a true American chauvinist and will only buy American products if anyone here builds what I want.

That being said, I bought mine and by the time I got it running right I have about $2,000 invested in it. But dang, it sure is fun! I think it will become my main match rifle.

Aggie,,that's why I've bought my USFA's. Not that the Italian guns aren't pretty good themselves,,or can not be 'made' to run good.........it's just I'd rather pitch my dollars behind an American worker if there is an American Co. making what I want.

I DID buy a RM Conversion....as I didn't see anything like what I wanted being made in America. I know I could have my Colt second gen converted to a Richards,,but that wasn't exactly the style conversion I wanted. I'd LOVE for USFA to build Colt RM conversions.......or better yet,,a '73Winchester in 44-40. I'd mortgage the house to buy one of those.

Marshall,USFA did make RM conversions, way back when. This was back in the 90's when they were still using Uberti parts. My understanding is that there were only about 35 or 40 of them ever produced. I have one of them. It is a .38 cal. 1851 Navy conversion. It is pictured on the USFA web site under "Custom Shop/Custom Shop Guns."CJF